Google is updating its camera-based translation service to support 60 new languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese.

The update brings the app’s number of supported languages to 88 and also includes the ability to automatically detect the language, a new look and translations powered by Neural Machine Translation which the firm says can reduce translation errors by up to 85%.

News of the update was confirmed in a blogpost by Product Manager Xinxing Gu who wrote: “The instant camera translation adds support for 60 more languages, such as Arabic, Hindi, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese. You can find the full list of all 88 supported languages here.

“What’s more exciting is that, previously you could only translate between English and other languages, but now you can translate into any of the 100+ languages supported on Google Translate.

“This means you can now translate from Arabic to French, or from Japanese to Chinese, etc.”

Gu adds that the new auto detection capability will help travellers in countries where multiple languages are spoken and where the visitor is unsure which is being used in a specific instance: “For example, say you are traveling through South America, where both Portuguese and Spanish is spoken, and you encounter a sign but you’re not sure what language that sign is in.

“Instead of trying to guess, the Translate app can now determine for you what language the sign is in, and then seamlessly translate it for you into your language of choice.”